3 Ways To Backup and Restore Registry in Windows XP

In this article I describe three methods to manually backup and restore the windows XP’s registry.

1. Create A System Restore Point

Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools> System Restore and select Create A Restore Point radio button. Press next and enter an appropriate name for this restore , for example BeforeTweaks. Press OK and you are done.

Now to restore the registry, simply restore the computer to the restore point BeforeTweaks.

2. Use Regedit

To start regedit, go to start>run, type regedit and press enter. Now go to File>Export and enter the name of the registry file that will hold all the information of the registry. Choose appropriate location and save the registry file.

Now to restore the registry, simply double click on the .reg file that you exported above.

3. Use Windows XP’s backup utility

Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools> Backup. and select the System Data State check box. This will backup the complete registry, boot files and the COM+ class registration database.

To restore the registry from its backup file, follow these steps,

1. Open the backup utility again and click on Advanced Mode. Now select the Restore and Manage Media tab.

2. Select the backup file that you want to restore.

3. Now check the System State box. In the Restore Files To box, select Original Location.

4. Go to Toolsmenu > Options, and click on Always replace the files on my computer. This step is necessary since if you don’t do this you will be asked for confirmation for each and every file that is being replaced and it can get very annoying since there are hundreds and thousands of files to be replaced.

5. Press OK.

6. Click Start Restore. A warning box will open saying that Restoring System State will always overwrite current System State unless restoring to an alternative location. Click OK to overwrite and then Click OK again on the Confirm Restore dialog box.

This will start the restore process which will take some time to complete, after which you’ll have to restart your computer.